An image observation apparatus is constructed to project image information displayed on an image display device for displaying the image information, onto a retina of an observing eye by a display optical system, thereby permitting an observer to observe the image information, and to perform control to change a position of an incident beam onto the entrance pupil plane of the observing eye. The apparatus is arranged to detect the position of the observer's pupil and change the position of the incident beam onto the entrance pupil plane of the observing eye, based on the result of the detection.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An image observation apparatus comprising image display means for displaying a plurality of parallax images, and a display optical system for guiding light from the image display means to an observing eye of an observer, said image observation apparatus having means for spatially dividing an exit pupil of the display optical system into a plurality of regions, and being constructed to substantially align a position of the exit pupil of the display optical system with a position of an entrance pupil of the observing eye, cause parallax images corresponding to the respective regions to be incident on the observing eye, and thereby cause a plurality of parallax images to be incident on the single eye of the observer, wherein an area of a region in the outermost periphery out of the plurality of regions in the divided exit pupil is greater than those of the regions except for that in the outermost periphery.
2. An image observation apparatus comprising image display means for displaying a plurality of parallax images, and a display optical system for guiding light from the image display means to an observing eye of an observer, said image observation apparatus having means for spatially dividing an exit pupil of the display optical system into a plurality of regions, and being constructed to substantially align a position of the exit pupil of the display optical system with a position of an entrance pupil of the observing eye, cause parallax images corresponding to the respective regions to be incident on the observing eye, and thereby cause a plurality of parallax images to be incident on the single eye of the observer, wherein a size of the exit pupil of the display optical system is larger than size of the entrance pupil of the observing eye and a size of a beam from the image display means at the position of the entrance pupil of the observing eye is substantially equal to or smaller than the size of the entrance pupil of the observing eye, said image observation apparatus comprising control means to change a position of the beam from the image display means at the position of the entrance pupil of the observing eye to cause plural parallax images corresponding to respective regions of the exit pupil to be incident on the single eye of the observer.
3. The image observation apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising pupil position detecting means for detecting the position of the pupil of the observer, wherein the position of the beam from the image display means at the position of the entrance pupil of the observing eye is changed by said control means, based on information obtained by the pupil position detecting means.
4. The image observation apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein said pupil position detecting means comprises eyeball illuminating means and light receiving means for receiving light reflected by the eyeball from illumination light emitted from the eyeball illuminating means, wherein the eyeball illumination light is infrared light.
5. An image observation apparatus comprising: image display means for displaying a plurality of parallax images; a display optical system including an exit pupil; means for spatially dividing the exit pupil of display optical system into a plurality of regions, said display optical system guiding the parallax images displayed on said image display means to each of the plurality of regions; and control means for guiding light of the plurality of parallax images into the plurality of regions, wherein an area of a region in the outermost periphery out of the plurality of regions in the divided exit pupil is greater than an area of regions except for a region in the outermost periphery.
6. The image observation apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the exit pupil of said display optical system and an entrance pupil of the observing eye are positioned to be coplanar.
7. The image observation apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein an area of the regions except for regions in the outermost periphery out of the plurality of regions in the divided exit pupil is less than an area of the entrance pupil of the observing eye.
8. An image observation apparatus comprising: image display means for displaying a plurality of parallax images; a display optical system including an exit pupil; means for spatially dividing the exit pupil of the display optical system into a plurality of divided regions having an area less than an area of an entrance pupil of an observing eye, said display optical system guiding the parallax images displayed on said image display means to each of the plurality of regions, and control means for guiding light of the plurality of parallax images into each corresponding area in the plurality of the divided regions; wherein a size of the exit pupil of said display optical system is greater than a size of the entrance pupil of the observing eye, and wherein said control means guides light of the parallax images into the plurality of regions selected from the plurality of the divided regions according to a position of the entrance pupil of the observing eye to cause plural parallax images corresponding to respective regions of the exit pupil to be incident on a single eye of the observer.
9. The image observation apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the exit pupil of said display optical system and the entrance pupil of the observing eye are positioned to be coplanar.
10. The image observation apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising pupil position detecting means for detecting the position of the pupil of the observing eye, wherein said control means selects regions where a light of parallax images is guided based on information obtained by said pupil position detecting means.
11. The image observation apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein said pupil position detecting means comprises eyeball illuminating means and light receiving means for receiving light emitted from the eyeball illuminating means and reflected by an eyeball, and wherein an eyeball illumination light is infrared light.
12. The image observation apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , 5 to 9 and 10 , comprising illumination means having an illumination light source for illuminating said image display means, wherein said illumination means is located at or near a position optically equivalent to the entrance pupil of said display optical system, the illumination means comprises a plurality of light source elements, images of the plurality of light source elements are formed on a plurality of regions in the exit pupil of the display optical system, the exit pupil of the display optical system is spatially divided into a plurality of irradiation regions, and a display image on said image display means is controlled to switch to one corresponding to each irradiation region.
13. The image observation apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of light source elements of said illumination light source are comprised of a light-emitting element array.
14. The image observation apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of light source elements of said illumination light source are comprised of a surface illuminant and a spatial modulation element.
15. The image observation apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , 5 to 9 and 10 , wherein said image display means comprises a plurality of display elements, said image observation apparatus comprising at least one illumination means having an illumination light source for illuminating the plurality of display elements, wherein the illumination means is located at or near a position optically equivalent to the entrance pupil of said display optical system, the illumination means comprises a plurality of light source elements, images of the plurality of light source elements are formed on a plurality of regions in the exit pupil of the display optical system, the exit pupil of the display optical system is spatially divided into a plurality of irradiation regions, and parallax images displayed on said plurality of display elements are controlled corresponding to each irradiation region.
16. The image observation apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein said illumination means is a plurality of illumination means, incidence of beams into a plurality of regions in the exit pupil of said display optical system is controlled in time division by controlling in time division irradiation of beams from a plurality of light source elements which an illumination light source of each illumination means has, and parallax images displayed on said plurality of display elements are controlled to switch to those corresponding to each region.
17. The image observation apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the plurality of light source elements of said illumination means are comprised of a light-emitting element array.
18. The image observation apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the plurality of light source elements of said illumination means are comprised of a surface illuminant and a spatial modulation element.
19. The image observation apparatus according to any one of claim 1 to 4 , 5 to 9 and 10 , wherein said image display means comprises a self-emission type image display element or a light-source-integrated type image display element, said display optical system comprises a relay optical system for forming an aerial image of a surface of the image display element and an eyepiece optical system for presenting an enlarged virtual image of the aerial image to the observing eye, a spatial modulation element having a two-dimensional pixel structure is located at or near a position of an entrance pupil of the eyepiece optical system, images of the spatial modulation element divide the exit pupil of said display optical system into a plurality of regions, beams incident to the plurality of regions in the exit pupil of said display optical system are controlled by controlling irradiation of beams from respective pixels of the spatial modulation element, and parallax images displayed on said image display means are controlled to switch to those corresponding to circumstances of incidence of a beam into each region.
20. The image observation apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein said spatial modulation element is a transmission type spatial modulation element.
21. The image observation apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein said spatial modulation element is a reflection type spatial modulation element.
22. The image observation apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , 5 to 9 and 10 , wherein said display optical system comprises a prism body having a decentered, rotationally asymmetric, reflective surface with optical powers differing depending upon azimuth angles.
23. An image observation system comprising a pair of image observation apparatus as set forth in any one of claims 1 to 4 , 5 to 9 and 10 , for the left and right eyes of the observer.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
April 20, 2001
February 21, 2006
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